CECIL HURT: It's been fun to see basketball in the headlines

Wednesday

Apr 1, 2009 at 12:01 AM

No one is saying that the University of Kentucky owes the University of Alabama atip of its blue cap after its successful courtship of basketball coach John Calipari. Alabama's 'radical' idea to pursue the best available coach for its football vacancy three years ago was not, after all, an original notion. Teams have been going after good coaches ever since intercollegiate athletics began.

For some reason, most people in the media seemed to understand that concept this time around. Rick Pitino certainly seemed to get it in his comments about Kentucky basketball and its similarities to Alabama (and Notre Dame) football. (If you don't think Notre Dame will push the limits in its next coaching search in the not-too-distant future, just wait and see.) Kentucky didn't seem to get the same criticism for firing Billy Gillispie after two years and pursuing Calipari that Alabama got for replacing Mike Shula (after four years) and pursuing Saban in the waning days of 2006. There was none of the nonsense that Kentucky should 'just accept its place' (i.e., mediocrity), a canard that Alabama had to hear repeatedly two years ago.So if nothing else, UK officials should at least thank Alabama for blunting some of the criticism. Calipari's hiring may prove to be controversial, but it will be because Calipari is a controversial individual, or because the salary he commands is so high (Alabama has heard all those complaints as well), but it won't be because Kentucky dared to spend big in order to turn things around.That's enough of that. Saban's success has long since vindicated the Alabama decision. It emboldened Alabama to go after the coach it considered its best basketball fit this time, Anthony Grant, and that was successful as well. The Calipari hire is fascinating for several reasons, though. First, it will change the dynamic in the Southeastern Conference. Perhaps it won't be as dramatic as CBS columnist Gregg Doyel, who predicts that Kentucky will return to the dominance it enjoyed in the 1940s and 1950s. (Again, it seems more acceptable in national circles to compare Calipari to Rupp than it would be to compare Saban to Paul W. Bryant.) But rest assured, Calipari is going to Kentucky to win and, especially, to recruit.Again, it is easy enough to draw a comparison between the two hires. No one doubts that one of the many attractions of Saban was his reputation as a recruiter. Two No. 1 classes later, or just a simple glimpse at the physical difference of the Alabama team on the practice field, indicates how that is going. But there are limitations in football. You can't simply retool a roster in one off-season. Yet that is what Calipari intends to do in Lexington, apparently, and it will be interesting to see the responses from the national media.There have been grumblings — not intense, just occasional mentions — about Saban (and, to be fair, other coaches like Houston Nutt) signing more players than he has vacancies. Alabama actually didn't have to do much shuffling last August. It might have to do a little more in a few months, when this year's balance sheet comes due, but at most it will affect about five percent of Alabama's roster.Calipari, on the other hand, inherits a Kentucky team that honored a grand total of one scholarshipped player — that's one — at its most recent Senior Day. Patrick Patterson and Jodie Meeks could both leave early for the NBA, but the word is that Calipari is going to try to convince both to stick around for his first season. Thus, with potentially one open spot, Kentucky will try to accommodate the following: three early signees by Gillispie (including two national Top 30 players), one junior college player committed to Gillispie and (if rumors are true) most of Calipari's top-ranked four-man recruiting class from Memphis, plus two or three current Tigers, plus unsigned five-star prospects John Wall of North Carolina and DeMarcus Cousins from this state. In other words, that's potentially as many as 13 newcomers. In NCAA terms, that is an entirely new roster. It's like Saban showing up in Tuscaloosa two years ago with 85 new guys in tow.By far the one who is the most intriguing to Alabama fans is Cousins, the Birmingham native who wound up playing for LeFlore, near Mobile, for his final two seasons. Once committed to UAB (whose administration looks better for not giving him an 'out' clause like the one that may leave Memphis' roster pillaged), Cousins is now a free agent. There is nothing unethical about Calipari recruiting him for Kentucky, which he will certainly try to do. But in remarks made Tuesday at McDonald's All-America Game practice in Miami, Cousins at least seemed to leave the door open to a conversation with Grant about a future with the Crimson Tide.In a state that is dominated by college football —– and, yes, today's UA scrimmage will be big news on Thursday — it has been fun to watch basketball in the headlines, at least for a couple of weeks. It will be interesting to see what the ripple effect will be, in a couple of areas.

Cecil Hurt is sports editor of The Tuscaloosa News. Reach him at cecil.hurt@tuscaloosanews.com or at 205-722-0225.

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